Slashdot Mirror
Facebook Experimenting With Blu-ray As a Storage Medium
s122604 links to CNN's explanation of what may be the future of cold (or at least lukewarm) storage at Facebook, which is experimenting with massive arrays of Blu-Ray discs for seldom-accessed user files. Says the report: The discs are held in groups of 12 in locked cartridges and are extracted by a robotic arm whenever they're needed.
One rack contains 10,000 discs, and is capable of storing a petabyte of data, or one million gigabytes.
Blu-ray discs offer a number of advantages versus hard drives. For one thing, the discs are more resilient: they're water- and dust-resistant, and better able to withstand temperature swings. Their data can be restored more quickly, and they're easier to transport.
Most important, though, is cost. Because the Blu-ray system doesn't need to be powered when the discs aren't in use, it uses 80% less power than the hard-drive arrangement, cutting overall costs in half.
Can I ask Facebook to delete my stuff from one of those (assuming I had a Facebook account in the first place)
You can ask, yes.
When you first access this data, you have to sit through 42 previews before you get to it.
It was a joke! When you give me that look it was a joke.
This is a company who's product stack is written in PHP.
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!